DIG DEEP
Excavating the Depths of God and His Glorious Riches
August 29th, 2022
PICTURE PERFECT
Matthew 6:21, ‘”For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”’ (NIV)
We are learning that there is vast spiritual wealth available to each one of us who call ourselves Christians, who consider ourselves children of God. It is buried just under the surface of the Christian life, waiting to be discovered and drawn out. This month we are headed on a dig, so we can explore, excavate and extract the glorious riches God has for His children.
What is your definition of success? You know there are many of them, right? Many definitions of success; many recipes for success. A pastor recently reminded me that it is possible for every person alive, there is a different definition of success. Humanity embodies success, so much so sometimes that we envision our own picture right next to the word SUCCESS in the dictionary. Sadly, though, for every person who believes they are or will be successful, there are just as many who feel defeated and will never consider that sometimes even taking another breath is the meaning of success.
To some, success is a beginning. To others, however, success means finality. Take Webster, for instance. Webster says: Success is the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors. Termination. That depicts an ending. But I always thought success meant embarking upon something new, the beginning of an adventure, the start of what is fascinating and unknown. This tells me it is the culmination of all things, a happy ending.
In God’s economy, success is vastly different than that of the world’s. While God desires for His children to enjoy success and victory, it likely is dressed up differently than how the world might clothe it. We find Jesus high-fiving the addict who just received her 30-day chip, and the simple features on the face of humility paints a beautiful canvas of favor and triumph. This world measures one’s success by how many numerals follow your family heritage or the abbreviated profession tailing your last name. Or perhaps it rates your success by the credit score you have achieved or how many figures your salary pays you or what pads your bank account. Maybe the size of your house, as if how many levels signify your worth, or it could even be the number of cars parked in your garage or along your drive. I recall years ago when we used to spend vacations visiting Indian ruins and lost Native American dynasties. If success were measured for them by the flashiness of the trucks parked by their little hogans and small shacks, I would have guessed they were closing in on millionaire prominence. But the truth was, status and success to them was found in a brand new 4×4 shiny, amped up pickup truck.
When prosperity and profit, fame and fortune, achievement and accomplishment, show up at the board meeting or the dinner party, on the golf course or at the annual fundraiser, they will likely weigh in on a large scale and speak in a loud, commanding voice and be dressed ‘to the nines’. There will be wealth and riches, glamor and glitz, and there is nothing wrong with that at all. But being successful God’s way will look and feel quite differently as you explore and unearth the hidden spiritual riches deep inside of you. You might excavate a grace you didn’t know you had or find understanding you never knew you possessed. Maybe joy burbles up from deep within, or you tap into compassion and suddenly love rises to the surface for the first time. It may surprise you, because success may just show up looking like the homeless guy you helped last week, or it may sound like your son’s entire varsity football team you took time to help coach this season or maybe it even feels like the arms of your husband—you had forgotten how they felt because it has been so long since you paid him any attention.
You can count on this: whatever the world says success is, the Lord says it is just the opposite, and you find it in unsuspecting places, like the grocery store or a park bench or a back alley or the last seat on a plane…or just maybe in your prayer closet. If you’ll take a few extra moments each day, each week, you may look back on the year just finished and realize it was your most successful year yet—by God’s standards.
Don’t forget that His lovingkindness draws us to repentance (Romans 2:4), and, to Jesus, a repentant heart is true success. After all, it is why God sent His only unique Son to this earth to rescue mankind.
Joshua 1:8, ‘Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful!’ (NIV)
2 Corinthians 2:10b: ‘The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God had planned all along.’ (MSG)
